About

About

We started Open Bio Labs with the goal of educating our community about the rising tide of synthetic biology and biotechnology. People are curious about science, and want to learn about it, but so commonly perceive it as daunting and inaccessible to the general public. However, in reality, science is accessible to anybody with an interest, and doing scientific work should be, too. That’s why Open Bio Lab exists: to show citizens they, too, can be scientists.

Open Bio Labs will be Charlottesville’s Bioscience Community Center. We will host classes and workshops to educate and train people in the biosciences and we will have a fully outfitted wetlab available for the community to use. Everyone of any age, field, or walk of life is invited to take a workshop, attend a lecture, or tinker around in our wetlab.

By engaging Charlottesville in DIY biology, Open Bio Labs will introduce a whole new medium for our community of artists and makers to explore their creativity. Collaborate with scientists, architects, designers, educators, engineers, and folks from every discipline. Develop breakthroughs that will transform the landscape in which we live!

Biotechnology will be the defining technology of the 21st century, just as computers transformed the world in the decades leading up to the new millennium. We at Open Bio Labs wholeheartedly believe that. We are in the vacuum tube era of synthetic biology and biotechnology, which leaves a whole universe to explore. These fields have the potential to revolutionize almost every industry, including agriculture, manufacturing, defense, art, consumer goods, etc.

Charlottesville is the perfect home for Open Bio Labs because we are a very energetic community that loves to make, explore, and live on the frontier of technology and science. We’re a highly educated community with blossoming technology and biotechnology industries. These growing local industries form the perfect crossroads for the coming wave of synthetic biology, and Open Bio Labs is the perfect catalyst for the community to ride the rising tide. We will educate, train, and certify individuals for low-barrier STEM jobs to develop our local workforce and economy. Everyone wins.

Big changes are afoot, so let’s work together to hit the ground running!